Stefanos Tsigrimanis Memorial Fund

A memorial fund has been established in memory of Stefanos Tsigrimanis at the Program in Hellenic Studies, Department of Classics, Columbia    University. Titled ‘The Stefanos Tsigrimanis Memorial Fund,’ it will commemorate and honor a talented and generous young man, who taught Greek language, literature, and culture with panache in our program, but who died, tragically, in a bicycle accident in his beloved New York, on the first day of classes, in September 2010. Stefanos was 29 years old. The fund aims to inspire students to cultivate an appreciation for two of Stefanos’s most heartfelt passions: the richness of the Greek language and the cultural vibrancy of New York City. Funds will be used to support student attendance and participation at events related to modern Greek culture, and more especially contemporary Greek culture, in New York City. The funds will exclusively support the classes that Stefanos taught so ably during his time at Columbia, in elementary and intermediate modern Greek language and conversation.

Stefanos Tsigrimanis came to New York City from Greece in 2005 to study for his M.A. at the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia. Upon graduation, he was awarded a scholarship to join the Ph.D program in Performance Studies at NYU, where he thrived and seemed to have found an ideal home for his varied creative talents. Since 2007, too, he taught conversation classes here at the Program in Hellenic Studies. Stefanos established a lively and warm rapport with his students while pointing out to the rest of us what was hot (and what was not) on the New York scene. On the day of his tragic  death, he was to accept full teaching responsibility for the Beginners class in Modern Greek Language and Culture. Stefanos was vital to this community in all senses of the word. For he brought to it a prodigious set of talents: Stefanos Tsigrimanis (aka Animal Nudity) was a mercurial guitarist, photographer, avant-gardist, writer, and poet. He will be forever remembered.

The Program in Hellenic Studies is grateful to Stefanos’s mother, Ms. Eleni Tsigrimanis, for her courage and support in the creation of this fitting memorial for her only son. The Program is also indebted to Ms. Litsa Lembessi for her generous support of the initiative.

Image: Stefanos Tsigrimanis